Experience is everything. Get it right

Good customer experience leaves people feeling heard and appreciated; it minimizes friction, maximizes efficiency and maintains a human element.

Ingredients for great experiences

Give customers a great experience and they’ll buy more, be more loyal and share their experience with friends. Great. That’s what every company strives for. Yet, so many consumers seem disappointed. Call it an experience disconnect: companies tout the latest technology or snappy design, but haven’t focused on—or invested in—the most meaningful aspects of customer experience.

What truly makes for a good experience? Speed. Convenience. Consistency. Friendliness. And one big connector: human touch—that is, creating real connections by making technology feel more human and giving employees what they need to create better customer experiences.

6 takeaways to guide you

The price premium is real—and it’s big.

The payoffs for valued, great experiences are tangible: up to a 16% pricepremium on products and services, plus increased loyalty. In return, amongU.S. consumers, there’s a sharp increase in willingness to give up personaldata: 63% say they’d share more information with a company that offers agreat experience.

Bad experience is driving customers away—fast.

You won’t have many chances to get it right. One in three consumers (32%)say they will walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience. This figure is even higher in Latin America, at 49%.

Companies need to get the must-do’s right.

Speed, convenience, helpful employees and friendly service matter most,each hitting over 70% in importance to consumers. Those who get it rightprioritize technologies that foster or provide these benefits over adoptingtechnology for the sake of being cutting edge.

The employee experience is the cornerstone.

Human interaction matters now—and 82% of U.S. and 74% of non-U.S.consumers want more of it in the future. Regardless, the technology supporting human interaction must be seamless and unobtrusive across platforms.

Give up generational fixation.

What matters most to all generations surveyed holds true for Gen Z, too. Butwhat passes for speed and knowledge to Gen Z might be different. Instant isexpected. Convenience—seamless transition from tablet to smartphone todesktop to human—is a baseline expectation.

Experience is the strategy.

54% of U.S. consumers say customer experience at most companies needsimprovement. That’s quite an experience gap.

The implications are significant

There is a formula for getting it right. The right culture, new ways ofworking and empowered talent are key to unlocking revenue opportunitiesthrough better experience. But technology alone won’t cure what ailscustomer experience.Done right, technology can help companies create phenomenal customerexperiences and reap the resulting benefits: 82% of the top-performingcompanies report paying close attention to the human experience arounddigital and tech.

• Your customers have demands. They aren’t what you think.Technologies and improvements that increase speed, convenience, friendliness and knowledge—core demands of consumers—are openings for companies to improve how people interact with, embrace and spend with their brand.• Customers generate revenue. Employees drive the experience.Reduce friction for consumers and empower employees to bring higher customer satisfaction, resulting in more forgiveness if things go wrong. This may require new ways of working, more focus on the employee experience and a sophisticated view of the human-and machine relationship in customer experiences.• Technology isn’t the final solution, it’s an enabler. Companies won’t be able to solve their customer experience problems with technology alone—it’s just the enabler. Focus on experience to realign priorities. Great employee experience brings stronger, smarter, more innovative ideas, which will drive future business and superb customer experience.